Environmental research

Slash and Burn agriculture practice with long fallow period is considered as one of the sustainable farming practices. But with the growing population, scarcity of land, and most importantly, with short fallow period, the slash and burn agriculture system is considered as one of the worst and unsustainable farming practices in the world. The problem is even worst in Nepal due to its rugged terrain as soil erosion is severe in the barren and sloppy land. In Makawanpur district, Central Nepal, slash and burn agriculture is still practiced by indegenous peoples-the Chepangs and Tamangs. The land used for the slash and burn agriculture, called as the Khoriya in Nepali, is often the marginal land with steep slopes.The Chepangs and the Tamangs would cultivate maize after the burning the land just before the monsoon rain. The burning equally contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases and soil loss due to erosion. Thus, the project has proposed to initiate sustainable farming practice involving the marginalized Chepang and Tamang communities and gradually convert the unproductive Khoriya land to a more productive land. The prevention on vegetation burning in Khoriya land would help in carbon sequestration by reducing the emission of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Nepal